Chris Lombardi puts defense and security under the spotlight, as he shares his takes on recent NATO and EU cooperation and provides insight into the company’s own long-term strategic partnerships in Europe.

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A training ground for entrepreneurs

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) had a difficult birth, and is now in the throes of a challenging adolescence. Its mission – to increase European sustainable growth and competitiveness by reinforcing the EU’s innovation capacity and impact – is inevitably a long-term plan and will take years to reach maturity.

The initial concept was to create a rival to the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, but by the time the EIT emerged in 2008, it had been downsized to what looked more like a virtual network of centres of excellence, with a budget of just €300 million for seven years. It also suffered from starting just as the international financial crisis hit home – which meant that its limelight was stolen by the EU’s Europe 2020 recovery programme, with its own emphasis on innovation.

Superstars

Martin Schuurmans, the chairman of the EIT governing board until his term ended on 15 September (he has been succeeded by Alexander von Gabain), defends the EIT concept as still valid. He champions its “relentless focus on innovation output, rather than effort”, and its potential for producing “new ‘superstar’ companies”.

In his view, what distinguishes the EIT from other innovation-support programmes is its non-linear approach. “Most programmes regard innovation as a linear process, moving from research to innovation to product,” he says. “But the EIT operates on the basis of the ‘knowledge triangle’ between education, research and business processes.” These will generate the entrepreneurship that will create innovation with impact, he says.

Knowledge

It is an approach, says Schuurmans, that is already widely accepted by the EU’s major competitors. He has overseen the setting up of three networks – ‘knowledge innovation communities’ in EIT jargon – focused on climate change, information and communication technologies, and sustainable energy. These bring together 16 centres in 12 countries, with 200 universities, research institutes and big and small companies as partners. “This is totally new for Europe,” he says.

Now, he says, entrepreneurial courses are being linked with education in engineering and science for 600 students following master’s and post-doctoral research. “This is not an MBA or business school approach,” says Schuurmans. “It is providing tools that give people confidence to become entrepreneurs. Two small companies have been set up already as a result.”

His only disappointment, he says, is that “it hasn’t gone quickly enough”. But he says he is “heartened by moves in this direction from Horizon 2020”.